Four days after the win vs Portugal (0-1) in Lisbon, France won another friendly, this time in Bordeaux’s brand new stadium Mat Mut Atlantique. PSG’s Blaise Matuidi  brace, delighted the french supporters and brought some confidence for the future. The Parisian player is undoubtedly the game’s Man of The Match; his first goal (10th) was a great header after Sagna’s clever delivery and the second one a 25 yards stunning strike!(25th)

The french had several chances to score and kill the game, even when one of  the visitors rare opportunities was deflected and got in reducing the score to 2-1.(40th Mitrovic)

During the second half, France changed five players and the game became more equilibrated. Serbia threatened occasionally but never applied  real pressure and Lloris dealt well  with some rare difficult situations.

France have still nine friendlies to play  to find their best 11 for next summer’s  Euro, while Serbia will try not to finish at the last place of their  Group. So, who was the best and who was the worst ? Here’s the players ratings:

FRANCE

Hugo Lloris : 7 /10  Good, solid performance from the french captain; two important saves, but he could do nothing about the goal(deflection).

Bacary Sagna : 5,5/10   An intelligent assist for Matuidi’s first goal but he had several defensive  lapses; both first half Serbian chances, came from his side of the pitch. Subbed by Mathieu Debuchy (46th) : 5 /10  The Frenchman needs some playing time with his club and it shows.

Raphael Varane : 6/10  Good  defensive game from the young Frenchman; he provided a wonderful ball for Giroud, but the Gunner wasn’t able to take advantage; the Real Madrid’s player, needs to be more aggressive, but it seems that he prefers to stay at the back posts.

Eliaquim Mangala : 5/10  Laurent Konscielni’s replacement wasn’t as good as he is in his club, Manchester City .Often misplaced, he was behind Mitrovic, when the Serbian scored.

Benoît Trémoulinas : 6/10 Solid game from the former Bordelais.  playing in front of his fans;good in defending, the FC Sevilla man offered some good balls to Giroud, but alas without any result.

Morgan Sneiderlin : 6/10  Good game from the new Red Devil; he was the man who gave the ball to Sagna for France’s first goal, but still, he needs a bit of personality to impose his presence in the first eleven and oust Cabaye.

Paul Pogba : 6/10 He’s good, technical,quick on the run, but he still needs more discipline to help him to become France’s team boss.

Blaise Matuidi : 8,5/10  Two wonderful goals, always on the move, the Parisian player showed all his skills in front of a delighted stadium. MOTM.  Subbed by Geoffrey Kondongbia (46th) : 5,5/10  The former Monégasque showed some good dispositions in the midfield.

Mathieu Valbuena : 6/10  Petit Vélo  didn’t score, but demonstrated, ( yes(!) again) how much the french team need him. Subbed (75th) by £36M. Man, Anthony Martial : 4,5/10 but the youngster wasn’t effective enough. The new Henry Thierry ? Time will tell.

Olivier Giroud : 2,5/10  What can I say? Apart a good ball in the first minutes of the game, Arsenal’s player wasted all the good balls that his teammates sent him, especially Griezman’s wonderful pass, in front of an open goal. He’s also the man who lost the ball that went into Lloris net. A night to forget for the Frenchman. Subbed by Karim Benzema (61st) : 6/10 who was his usual self.

Antoine Griezmann  7/10 Very good game from Atletico Madrid man; he organized the game up in front, beautiful footwork and he should have scored, bar the Serbian post.This was his best performance, with Les Bleus. Subbed by Moussa Sissoko (90th not noted).

SERBIA :

P. Rajkovic : 6/10 Made a good stop against Griezmann  (2nd) and another one versus Giroud(16th) Good in the air, the young goalkeeper showed lots of promise.

I. Obradovic : 4/10  He gave too much space to his opponents, especially Sagna and Débuchy.

N. Tomovic : 4,5/10 Lazy in defense, he was lucky that the French attacks were from the other wing; he clearly lucked confidence, especially when getting forward.

U. Spajic : 5/10  He should be glad that Giroud lacked precision  but nevertheless Toulouse’s Serbian international, won a fair number of headers.

B. Ivanovic : 4,5/10  Quite strong in the penalty area, he was enabled to help on the first goal and during the game he scrambled  away a few dangerous crosses.

N. Matic :  6/10  Tested Lloris with a low drive and tried to put some pressure on Paul Pogba, but it didn’t work. It was his header that brought Matuidi’s second goal, but it was  also responsable for giving the ball to Tadic thus helping his teammates to score.

L. Marcovic : 5/10 An average performance from Fenerbahçe player; he couldn’t stop Valbuena’s incursions but it was his volley who was S deflected on Mitrovic and  brought the Serbian goal. Subbed by Tosic (58th): 5,5/10

N. Gudeij : 5,5/10  He couldn’t do much, because of the French supremacy, but at least he tried to help the team, but his effort was well stopped by Lloris (18th) Subbed by Ljajic (55th) : 3/10

D. Tadic :6/10  Some good deliveries from the left side, but soon  he was obliged to go and help Obradovic who was often in a delicate position; he was good in possession, whenever received the ball. Subbed by Kostic (55th) : 5/10

L. Fejsa : 4/10 Made some good clearances from corner situations, but  he was unable to keep away the French attacks. Yellow carted  for his  late challenge against Valbuena. Subbed by Petrovic (81st)

A. Mitrovic : 5,5/10  Isolated up front most of the time, had the good fortune of seeing Marcovic’s shot deflected off his leg and into the back of the net ! Had very rare balls to do something worthy.

The game’s highlights :

Categories: news, opinion

Tags: Euro 16 friendlies, Euro 2016 Friendies France vs Serbia, France vs Serbia